Day of Coordinator

I was scheduled to meet with Kelly, but at the last minute, ended up meeting with Jamie instead; I felt really comfortable with her.  She and Kelly have both been very responsive over email. 

April 08 Update: Jamie has since left the company, and I'm working with Mary now instead.  Over the last few months, I've decided that I probably made the wrong decision here, and probably should have gone with Dianna instead.  The girls working with her have such good things to say about her, and I feel that she'd be offering me more support through the planning process, even though I'd only hire her for DOC.

Also considered: Dianna Shitanishi.  I'm still not positive that I made the right decision with Jamie - Dianna is more budget friendly, but Jamie came with less restrictions.  So far, I've only had to ask Jamie for help with one thing, so I don't know whether I've made the right decision yet.  I suspect that I'm organized and self-sufficient enough to not need the extra services I'm paying for, but we'll see as the wedding get closer. 

I had also talked to Weddings by Grace and Mona, but they were out of my budget; my friend that used Mona said she was really good, but maybe not opinionated/assertive enough. 

Post-wedding update - I *loved* Mary.  She did a fantastic job, and I don't regret for a minute that we chose her.  She had 2 assistants on the day-of, and the three of them handled everything - I didn't worry about a thing from the moment I woke up until Mary gave me our key and we headed back upstairs at the end of the evening.  We even had some issues with some family members disappearing (they're from out of the country and didn't realize we were serving dinner after cocktail hour) - and Mary tracked them down and took care of everything.  During the planning process, Mary was incredibly responsive to email, always getting back to me within a few hours.  I had 10+ forms to fill out, each with a sensible deadline, which assured me that she knew every detail of what I wanted for the day - including many things I hadn't even considered yet.  I would highly recommend APD!

Dorys' gets a *ton* of rave reviews.  I'll have my trial a few days before the wedding. 

Also considered: Makeup by Bev.  She was comparably priced (these were the least expensive options I found), but my friend had used Dorys so I felt I "knew" her work better. 

Post-wedding update: I loved my makeup!  I looked like a better version of me, still very natural, but polished!  The airbrush makeup didn't feel heavy at all, I didn't even know it was there - and it didn't rub off onto anything.  It lasted all day.  For example, I did my trial at 10am, and my makeup was still looking great 12 hours later!  My hair was exactly what I requested too.  It didn't stay up very well after the trial, so Dorys adjusted for the wedding day, and it held up much better. 

Great prices, great work, can be hard to get a hold of because she is so busy.  Everyone says she will focus more on you when it's closer to your day, so we'll see!  I had to follow up with her a few times to get the contract, but I'm prepared to be patient now until the day gets closer. 

Also considered: Todd Oshiro.  Super nice and friendly, really willing to work with my budget.  Similar in price to Sue, but charges a set-up and delivery fee, which put him over.  Also, Sue seemed more familiar with our venue. 

I talked to more florists than any other vendor.  I had also contacted Flower Girls Hawaii (my original top choice, not available), Debbie Hemingway (very creative, beautiful work, way out of our budget), Peony Floral (minimum was out of our budget), and Floral Inspirations Hawaii (like many others, never got a hold of her). 

Post-wedding update: Sue delivered on exactly what I asked for.  All I had given her was one photo as inspiration, and she took it from there.  She was incredibly responsive as my date drew nearer (starting at around the 2.5 month mark) and was happy to make last minute changes (mothers' corsages, etc) with no complaints.  I loved my bouquet!

Love Elizabeth's photos (see also MrsPresley, jenmartin), which are photojournalistic in style.  I got along with her really well and felt very comfortable talking to her.  She's pretty budget-friendly, though I'm a little concerned about not having her on-site for that many hours.  We went with the 5 hour package, but we're spending one of the hours 2 days afterwards at Waialae Beach Park for sunset pictures with just the two of us.  We may decide to upgrade, but I'm secretly hoping she'll just stay longer ;)  She spends a lot of time editing and cleaning up each picture that she likes, and we'll get them all on CD, with a few prints.  No album included, we'll do that afterwards. 

Also considered: Shawn Starr, Frank Amodo.  Love their work too, but both of them were already booked for our day, which  made my decision easy.  Don't know what their prices are like. 

Post-wedding update: We really enjoyed working with Elizabeth and her assistant Scott.  We were very comfortable with them the entire time, and I really liked seeing both Elizabeth's and Scott's photos from the same scenes - they were very different, and in some cases I preferred Elizabeth's, others I preferred Scott's - so I was glad we had two photographers.  We ended up not doing the hour at Waialae Beach Park, and used that hour on the day-of instead.  We got some great beach shots after the ceremony, so I don't regret giving up the day-after shots.  My only regret was that I didn't give Elizabeth a must-take list.  I've seen so many great photos from other knotties, there were some specific shots I really liked that we didn't get.  (but that's totally my fault!)  Elizabeth did capture all the detail shots, etc, very nicely, and I think our photos turned out beautifully.  Of the 1350+ photos she sent me, there are over 500 that I really, really like, which I think is plenty!  She also worked with us to zoom through our table shots - we set up lighting on the dance floor, and had each table come to us (waiting on the dance floor) before going to the buffet line.  It worked out really well.

Neither of us felt the need to have a videographer, so we cut it out of the budget right away.  However, the more time I spent planning, the more I thought I might want a video.  We debated for a long time...in the end, so many people told me they wish they had, the day goes by so quickly, they weren't originally planning to but are so glad they did, etc, that we decided to stretch the budget a bit and go for it.  Because we decided late, and I procrastinated (and couldn't find any demos I liked), I had a hard time finding anyone that wasn't already booked.  I was so thrilled when Jamie recommended Studio Red - their work is very different than the other wedding video demos I had seen, and I *really* like their cinematic/documentary style.  Kristy is super responsive to email has been a pleasure to work with so far.  We're getting 3 ceremony cameras (one is a wide angle on a tripod) and 2 reception cameras.  Kristy and/or Joel will be coming to the rehearsal to plan how they want to set things up, which I think is great.  I spent some time chatting with Kristy on the phone about their philosophy on wedding videos and how they work with the photographer, and I was really happy with what I heard. 

Also considered: Crane Media, Video 21 Productions - I've heard nothing but positive things about both these companies, but both were already booked.   It all worked out though, b/c I personally like Studio Red's demos so much more!  So I'm glad I wasn't able to book someone else earlier. 

Post-wedding update: Unfortunately, Kristy has been sick for over a month, and wasn't able to shoot our wedding; Joel brought another assistant with him.  We met with Joel a few days before the wedding to get to know each other a bit and go over what we were expecting.  I loved working with Joel.  He's so laid-back, and I really felt like he knew exactly what we wanted.  Since Kristy's out of commission, Joel warned us our video would take longer than usual to complete, which is understandable - but I can't wait to see it!  We got the "Wedding Day Feature" video.

I met with Rev. Mak (808.536.5224) on my scouting trip, and we got along really well.  He's very calm and friendly, laughs a lot. 

Also considered: Rev. Alice Inoue.  Really liked her also.  Rev. Mak is a little more traditional, and we ended up choosing him mostly to NOT have the same officiant as our friends who also got married at the Moana! 

Post-wedding update: Rev. Mak was fantastic during our rehearsal.  He made everyone feel very comfortable, and gave each person in the bridal party tips to help the ceremony go smoothly - everything from how to carry bouquets, to helpful emotions to keep in mind to convey the right feelings in their faces.  I really appreciated how he not only know how to get people to concentrate on the right things, but he also know how to get better photos (as contrived as that sounds).  He did a great job delivering the ceremony.  The only minor complaint is that we had changed several parts of the ceremony, which he handled well, except for the ring exchange, which we had only modified slightly - and he used his regular bit instead, which he has down by heart and delivered without looking down at the ceremony text.  It was an honest mistake, and not a big deal.

We'll be having a violin/cello duo.  I'm a little nervous, since Faye's concerned about whether the sound will be loud enough to carry over the wind and surf, but hopefully it'll be okay.  We didn't want to add a harp or a flute, both for budget reasons and that neither of us particularly like those instruments.  I'm going to see if the Moana can provide a mic, but otherwise, we're keeping my fingers crossed.

April 08 Update: We're renting an extra mic from the Moana, so volume shouldn't be an issue.

It turned out to be really hard to find strings!  Lots of harp options, but not a lot of violin or cello options.  Some others we talked to - Tantalus Strings (Rami was very forgetful and rarely sent things when he said he would), Lotus Ensemble.  Manoa Strings never got back to me.  With Faye, at least I'm confident she'll show up for the ceremony!  And she's the most reasonably priced too, even though her rate went up $45 from when I first talked to her last year until now. 

Post-wedding update: Everything went smoothly with Faye, no complaints!  Like everyone else, I barely remember the music.  As far as I know, it was fine.  =)

Not my top choice of DJ, but good for the budget.  We'll see how it goes...he seems to have a nightclub-ish style, which is fine with me - I want people to dance!  He does have an online system that makes it really easy to choose songs, upload your program, etc, which is really convenient.

Also considered: Troy Michael - Midnight DJ's.  I *really* liked Troy and felt that he shared my vision for what the reception should feel like.  However, he was way out of our budget.  Update: the girls that have used him have all really loved him. 

Post-wedding update: My one complaint is that Rick mis-pronounced some names as he was introducing the bridal party.  Since he charges extra to emcee, I felt like he should have made sure that he knew how to pronounce everyone's names!  But he kept the dance floor going all night - it was packed!  And we had asked him to fade out the music for our first dance song early - and he handled that well.  Given how affordable he was, I have no regrets.

3 tiers of Strawberries and Cream, b/c it is so yummy!  They had the best price I could find, and the Strawberries and Cream was awesome.  I tried the passion-mango as well, but found the passionfruit to be unbelievably strong.  So far, no problems, but not very responsive to email, better to call. 

Also considered: Patricia Nevada - Wedding Cakes Hawaii, JJ French Pastry.  JJ's didn't have any samples to taste, and was the most expensive of the three.  Patricia's lilikoi chiffon cake was really yummy, but had a little too much "goo" in the filling.  I really liked the idea of a tropical flavored cake, but ultimately just liked Mary Catherine's the best in terms of taste. 

Post-wedding update: I dropped off some ribbon to wrap around the bottom of the cake a few days before the wedding.  It looked exactly like I expected, and was super yummy! Here's how it turned out.  We got an 8", 10", and 14".  I was really concerned about what sized tiers to get, and didn't want the bottom to look too large or unbalanced - so I hope that helps give a sense of what a 2" and 4" difference looks like!

Here's a picture of their brochure from Fall 2007, it shows prices and flavors (don't know if anything's changed since then): front, back

One of FI's few requests - a photobooth for our guestbook (as well as mini-favors if guests want to take home extra pics).  Blue Cheese has been very responsive to email.  They were offering a special expo discount when I booked them, which was great.  The best part is that we'll get a cd with all the pictures that were taken! 

Also considered: Photobooth Services.  The main differences are that Photobooth Services prints the photos in black and white, in a 4 strip, and you don't get a cd of the pictures.  With Blue Cheese, we can pick color or b&w; however, the photos are printed in a 2x2.  With the expo discount, Blue Cheese was much cheaper, and we are excited about the cd. 

Post-wedding update: Our guests *loved* the photobooth.  We got some great photos and captions in our guestbook, and everyone had fun with it all night long.  We didn't have any problems with the booth itself, and the cd of photos was waiting for us when we got back from our honeymoon.  Sandra (the owner) was also great at working with us to finalize our personalized banner that was printed at the bottom of each photo.  We were so glad we had the photobooth! 

Update: there have been a few posts on the HI board asking for comparisons of the different photobooth services.  Instead of retyping everything each time, I figured I should put it in my bio...here's a thread that should be really helpful if you're considering doing a photobooth!

They're based in Menlo Park, CA. I had no problems getting a hold of them over the phone, and the ordering process has been very smooth so far. The dress should be shipped the first week of February.  Update: They sent me an email late last year when they thought the dress was going to be late, and then another when it shipped.  It arrived just fine - I'd definitely recommend ordering online to save money!  The only problem is not being able to try on different veils with the dress (as you might be able to in a shop, I imagine).

Where I most enjoyed my shopping: I Do Bridal, Seattle.  I went to every bridal salon in Seattle and Bellevue, and found them to be either not helpful or too expensive.  I Do Bridal had a big selection of dresses in my price range, and Jen was a huge help in picking out dresses for me to try.  When I couldn't decide between two dresses, she suggested some minor changes that really helped me decide on the dress. 

We got really lucky - I happened to see the dresses we had picked out on my local craigslist. They were worn for a wedding in September, and 4 of the BM's were selling their dresses. So we bought 3 of them for a great price! 

I found the dress initially at Marcella's. 

Just getting started with the process, but so far, Ruth has been very responsive both to email and voicemail, returning my call or email within 24 hours.  However, I've been frustrated with how they handle the discounts they offer (if you choose non-assembly and/or order more than 100 invites).  Each time I make a change and need a new quote, my discount is calculated differently - and shrinking!  And Ruth just says there was a "misunderstanding" earlier. 

Jan 08 Update:  This has been the most frustrating vendor to work with.  I've found their work to be extremely sloppy, with poor design sense, and they don't seem to know how to use their own tools.  I feel like I'm paying for them just to gather the cardstock and do the printing, since I'm doing everything else!  Design, font, color, layout...even creating Illustrator files for them.  I thought I was paying them for their services too?!  (And they're not cheap!)  It turns out they're "closing their doors" soon, so I won't bother with the details.  Good riddance.  I just hope my invites show up, in decent quality.  Still thinking I should have gone with the DIY-with-a-thermographer route. 

Mar 08 Update:  Finally got our invites, about 4 weeks late.  But I'm happy with them, and I'm just glad that we got them.

Also considered: Making our own.  After I sent in my deposit to Ruth, I still wondered whether we should have chosen to make our own invites. However, if we wanted to keep the thermography, it probably wouldn't have been much cheaper, and it definitely would have been much more stressful.